Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1887-03-23
WHERE JET is FOUND.
Claims of the Yorkshire People in Regard
to It's Formations.

to It's Formations.
Jetis shining black substance which
is found in seams ASSOCIATED from
other black minerals, and not in the
coal regions of England, bit in others,
notably near Whitby, in Yorkshire. 1t
occurs also in Saxony and in the amber
districts on the Prussian shores of the
Baltic. The scientists maintain that it
is a variety of coal, but the Whitby
folks adduce many circumstances that
go to prove that it must have been at
some time in a gummy OF semi-liquid
state quite unlike coal from ligenous
sources. Bits of vegetable substances
are often found imbedded in it, also
flies wings aud other small articles,
which favor the Whitby theory.
The stratum called Jet rock is found
mostly at Whitby, in sort of shale,
which. when distilled, yields ten gal
Ions of oil to ton. The nature of
the connection between this oil and Jet
can not now be determined, though
some connection evidently existed IN
past times. There is hard Jet and soft
jet, the former being the best. 1t oc-
ours in detached pieces, ranging in
size from a domino up to those many
pounds in weight. The largest piece
ever found was six feet long, five inches
wide and one and half inches thick.
The British Museum refused to give
ten guineao for it, but dealer paid
fifteen for it and cut it up into CRISES
of unusual size. How long Jet, or
black amber, as it was formerly called,
has been worked at Whitby is not
known, bu5 certainly for many centu-
ries.
In a tumulus or barrow near the
town the skeleton of lady was found,
supposed to belong to the ancient Brit
ish days, before the date of the Danish
invasions, and with it were earrings of
jet two inches long by quarter of an
inch thick. They were heart-shaped,
with hole in the upper part for the
wire. Jet possesses considerable cleo
trio qualities like amber. 1t was made
into beads and rosaries in the middle
ages by the monks, AS trade it had
not much activity till the beginning of
the present century. The Spaniards
made beads and rosaries of the soft
kind of jet, and when English ladies
began to wear it in mourning the
Whitby industry began to flourish At
first the workers used only knives and
files, but Matthew Hill discovered
method of turning this brittle substance
in lathe. The largest find ever made
was 40 years ago, at North Bats,
spot in the neighborhood of Whitby,
and consisted of $40 pieces of stones,
valued at 81, 250. The jet is picket up
on the shore, at the foot of the cliffs,
but this is of an inferior quality. A
dangerous mode of obtaining it is to
cut down the face of the cliff, until
Jet seam is reached. 1t is also tunneled
for twenty miles inland, near Bilsdale,
in the Cleveland hills. The men rent
the workings. as in the copper and tin
mines of Cornwall, and they may work
a month without coming across bit of
the precious stuff. The prices for the
best hard jet is three shillings pound;
for the soft, one shilling The Whitby
variety is the finest known, as it is
tougher and more elastic than any
other, and admits of a higher polish.
Many articles sold in the shops as
Whitby jet are derived from the Pyre-
nees, and are liable to break through
sudden heat or cold, which is due to
slight per cent. of sulphur in the Span
ish variety. Philadelphia Call.